


Lemon Cakes

by AllumetteRouge (RedRaidingHood)



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7553638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRaidingHood/pseuds/AllumetteRouge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Jason's first appearance at a Gala and he is not dealing well with the sheer opulence of the rich class. That is until a beautiful lady enlists him to steal lemon cakes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lemon Cakes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Imagine Jason Todd going to a Wayne Gala for the first time](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/214816) by roundofrobins, batboyblog. 



> This was initially a very cute post on tumblr by [roundofrobins](http://roundofrobins.tumblr.com/post/147549628622/imagine-jason-todd-going-to-a-wayne-gala-for-the) with additions by [batboyblog](batboyblog.tumblr.com/post/147697059104). So when [iwakepiesandbakethedead](iwakepiesandbakethedead.tumblr.com/post/147712093425/batboyblog-roundofrobins-imagine-jason-todd) asked me to write it, I really wanted to. So I got myself new pain meds and sat down - hope you're having as much fun reading as I had writing this <3

On his tenth birthday, Jason had treated himself to a full meal at a family diner across town. Two giant burgers and shakes and more fries than he had been able to count then. He’d ordered for two, stuffing the leftovers in his jacket and making a run for it before the waitress came with the bill.

Only when he had been back home again, the disgust had settled in. Disgust at what he had done. Why he had done it.

He had thrown the leftovers away, only to come back later, the hunger winning against his pride.

When he laid eyes on the opulence of Gotham’s upper crust for the first time, Jason’s stomach churned at the memory. None of the guests had ever had to fight stray dogs for a day-old sandwich. None of them had ever gone without a shower for months either. Bruce had fed and clothed him, but around these people, Jason felt dirty; the stiff new collar around his throat making it hard to breathe.

“Oh dear, look, it’s Bruce’s new boy.”

Jerking towards the voice, Jason watched the lady step up carefully, not knowing how to react. She laid her hand on his shoulder, the heavy rings on it weighting her fingers down and Jason just stopped himself from shrugging her off. He had recognized her face as someone important, someone he needed to impress so he wouldn’t cause trouble for Bruce.

“Hi- er, um. Hello, ma’am.”

“’Ma’am’,” the lady sneered, her grip hardening as she shook him a little. She turned to her friends and Jason wished she’d just let him go. He didn’t want to be here.

“Isn’t he cute?”

“Adorable,” another woman agreed, making herself comfortable behind Jason.

They laughed in one of those understated tones that made his skin crawl. He’d rather be back on the streets where thugs were at least honest enough to just punch you and be gone after they’d gone through your pockets.

Jason bit his lip, trying to swallow against the lump in his throat. He couldn’t mess up, but he couldn’t stay either.

There was no way any of those people were just after your valuables. Not with their diamond rings and gilded cuff links. They spurned the food that had been laid out for them and would be thrown away after tonight.

Food that could feed a whole street easily. No, those people couldn’t be like normal thugs, but Jason had no idea what they were after, didn’t know what to give them so they’d leave him alone.

“Excuse me.” He tried like Alfred had instructed him earlier.

A man next to him seemed to perk up at that, his beady eyes flitting to Jason’s for a moment before he spotted something more interesting. “Oh look,” he said, waving at another person over the crowd. “There’s Beryl.” His hand settled on Jason’s back like a claim, steering him away from the ladies and freeing him of the heavy grip on his shoulder.

For a second, Jason wanted to turn and thank the man. Just a second, though, because after that, the lady he’d called ‘Beryl’ looked down at him over her ample cleavage and pinched his cheek.

It hurt. It hurt and it was humiliating when they started to coo over him. They laughed and chattered about nothing. He wanted to slap Beryl’s hand away, wanted to tell them to shut up and eat.

Flexing his hands, he waited for Beryl to let him go. Bore it, when she slapped his cheek condescendingly. Replied ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, ma’am’ as needed, his eyes fixated on his shiny new shoes. He could do this. He would not disappoint Bruce. He would not cry.

With another, shrill laugh, Beryl offered him her arm and made him move around the hall with her. Following numbly, Jason expected to be handed off to yet another one of Bruce’s guests.

They were already high-tailing to the next important person when somebody bumped into them roughly. Jason let go of Beryl’s arm, keeping them from falling. His hackles were up in a moment before he could reign himself in, choking on the bile rising in his throat. He could not make a scene. Not here.

“I’m so sorry. - Oh, look at you,” the woman cooed. She was younger than Beryl, but her clothes looked just as expensive.

When she made no move to touch him, Jason stiffened up. With all the ladies he’d met since entering the hall, he had expected her to touch him in any way. They all did and he could do nothing against that.

This lady, though, winked at him before making Beryl vanish happily with just a few words. “It’s great I found you, darling,” she told the other woman. “Robert wanted to see you and he seemed eager to compliment your new dress. Vera Wang, I suppose?”

Beryl chuckled in return, finally finishing the grotesque scene after the obligatory small talk and excusing herself to see this Robert.

The new lady tapped a perfectly manicured thumb against her smile, watching Beryl retreat. Her demeanor hadn’t changed, but her eyes were too fierce to be one of them. Yet Jason still felt like another predator would fall on him once she turned her attention on him.

“Those people are boring.” She cocked her head, looking him over.  
Jason avoided her eyes. He didn’t want this to be another repeat of the former encounters. All he wanted was to leave if he was being honest.

Bruce was the best thing that had happened to him. If he hadn’t come back in time to catch Jason red-handed it would have been only a matter of time before he had ended up dead in the gutter.

Jason really wanted to be part of Bruce’s life, but this was just… too much. He was shaking, his nails biting into the skin of his palms. Those people had no idea what they had and Jason had no idea how to deal.

The lady crouched down in front of him, her arms crossed comfortably over her knees. “What’s your name?”

Startled, Jason looked up, finally meeting her gaze. He felt like crying then and there. Nobody had asked for his name the whole evening. They either knew or didn’t care. He choked on it; choked on the reply, unsure if it would have been his name or just a senseless sob anyway.

But the lady smiled. Not the haughty smile Beryl and the others deigned to grace the party with, but an honest, amused smile. “Let’s try this again,” she said. “I’ll go first, I’m Selina, and we’re gonna be friends tonight, ok?”

“I-I’m Jason.” The words left his mouth before he could think. Catching his shaking fist with the other, he steadied his hands, carefully keeping an eye on Selina.

People always wanted something, but those rich cats didn’t outright ask for it, right? But then, Selina hadn’t acted like one of them in the first place. Maybe she really just wanted to be friendly?

Her eyes flickered towards the buffet, where a man was berating the staff. “See that guy?”

“Mr. Pearson?”

“Yeah, the one whose cummerbund has to work harder than maternity fashion.”

Jason chuckled, relief settling in his chest when Selina’s smile only grew. She shifted a little closer as if taking him into a conspiracy.

“He’s extremely fond of the lemon cakes but a lousy tipper. Wanna help me steal the cakes?”

He couldn’t suppress a laugh, but this time, he didn’t even try. Selina laughed with him and together, they rose, set on their mission.

“I’m going to distract him, you go take the plate and hide under the table, okay?”

“Seriously?” Jason grinned.

“Seriously.”

It took them mere moments to cheat Mr. Pearson out of his favorite treat and Jason thought lemon cakes had never tasted better. They hid under the table, until the wait staff found out and even then, they made little fuss. No one wanted a scene, so they got away with their faces smeared with sugar and Selina’s purse full of treats.

Only when the bell called them to dinner, Jason thought of looking for Bruce. They would be sitting at a table with all the important people, eating fancy food with fancy forks. As if the buffet wouldn’t have been enough to feed them all.  
The crowd moved like molasses, slow but steadily towards the dining hall.

“You go on ahead,” Selina told him, her hand in her purse. “Do you know where you’re sitting?”

He nodded. “With Bruce.”

“Well, that’s convenient.” While she seemed a little startled, she didn’t seem to mind. “I’m glad to have made your acquaintance, Jason.”

“Same – Um, me too.”

Bruce was smiling brightly at him, looking like he’d had one too many drinks already. He didn’t. Bruce would never drink too much, but keeping up the appearance paid off, so Jason didn’t call him out.

“How are you, champ? Having fun?”

Beryl was sitting at the table across the room, waving at them lazily. Jason shuddered. “I’m fine.”

The table was set with the finest silverware and dishes made of porcelain so thin you could almost see the table cloth through them. It was scary to even think of using them. They looked so expensive and fragile, Jason wished himself back under the buffet table.

“Why’re there so many damn forks?”

“Sorry, champ. Can you repeat that?”

Blushing, he gave Bruce a reassuring glance. He would not mess this up. Back at the manor, they had taught him. Over and over again, Bruce and Alfred had told him when it was appropriate to use which fork or knife and which spoon belonged to which course. He could do this. He had trained for this.

With a dreadful feeling, he counted the cutlery. Something didn’t add up, but he couldn’t think of it. On his left, Bruce was already chatting up his neighbor, making nice and being important. Jason couldn’t find a way to ask him if the tiny spoon was for starter or dessert. And what that strange knife was about.

Pulling out the free chair, Selina settled beside him. Jason knew the seating order, knew it should have been Mr. Pearson making his cummerbund work even harder next to him.

“You’re not supposed to sit here,” he hissed, his cutlery problems pushed aside for the moment.

“It’s alright, Jay. I’ve made some arrangements.” With the tone Selina was using, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she had used the lemon cakes from her purse to bribe the other guest. “Now be happy I’m here, together, we might be able to get some of this fancy food home for lunch tomorrow.”

“I don’t think your purse is big enough.”

Leaning towards him, Selina nudged their shoulder together. “Not with that attitude.”

It was surprisingly easy to get through the meal after that. Jason remembered everything Bruce and Alfred had taught him and it was fun listening to Selina’s comments on the other guests. He had been given the general information about each and every one of them, of course, but Selina told him about this affair and that embezzlement. About the villa in Italy this man let his mother pay for him or about this dress he was making his second mistress wear now that the first was off to Hollywood with his editor.

It was fun to listen to her and it was even more fun to realize he was the only one she was talking to like that. Even Bruce got just a few comments out of her that meant essentially nothing, which was obviously irritating the man. Jason loved it.

After dinner, they drew back to the hall where an orchestra had taken the stage. One by one, couples started to fly over the dance floor. They watched them for a while and Jason was content standing between Bruce and Selina. When he had struggled into his expensive suit this afternoon, he would have never believed to be this happy at the end of the evening.

“Care to dance?”

Bruce laughed, turning to face Selina over his head. “Thought you would never ask.”

Her fingers splayed against her lips, she let them see her taunting smile. “I wasn’t asking you, Bruce.”

Grinning up at his father, Jason quickly took her hand.

 

Later, Bruce found them on the balcony, huddled together for warmth. The boy was sleeping soundly, his face pressed into her shoulder. He would not count the silverware, nor the diamond rings missing from this event. Whatever Selina had taken, seeing his son this happy and relaxed was more than worth it.

“I’m thinking of adopting him.” Her voice was subtle, low enough not to startle the boy awake.

Sitting down beside her, Bruce, too, felt the ease those two had created for themselves. Inside, the people were still dancing and chattering, and they would until the break of dawn, but here on this balcony, there was no need for any of that.

“So he’s really yours.”

“It’s his first Gala.”

Selina glared at him softly. It wasn’t often they could talk like this. “You could’ve just told me, you manipulative bastard.”

Sighing, she stroked Jason’s hair before carefully handing the boy over to his father. Selina stood to leave, brushing lemon cake crumbs from her dress.

“Take care of him, Bruce,” she said, her tone fond and wistful. “He’s a good kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's not yet edited (I'll come back to that) so if you made it here, thank you very much for reading! <3  
> I'd love to hear how you liked it, so feel free to leave any kind of comment or talk to me on [tumblr](http://allumetterouge.tumblr.com)!


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